Radion owners speak up..

[amuvor]

Originally Posted by jorjef

Okay lets hear from the people that own them. There has to be a bunch of you out there!! What do you have to say, good, bad? meets expectations or left a little dissappointed. No arm chair experts, if you didn't shell out the cash hold your comments please. Will be interesting to see how quiet this thread may or may not be.

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I purchased two Radion fixtures from Concept Aquatics. Thank you Dave and Brad.

I have hanged them from the ceiling temporarily, with rope.

My tank is 4feet long, but it’s 38” wide, and shallow: 22”. The water column, however, sand excluded, is only 18”.

Initially, I experimented hanging the Radions 6 inches away from the water surface, but I got an unlit portion in the middle of the tank, and marked shadows.

At 12” from the water (see pics) the shadows disappear and the tank appears more homogeneously lit.

I used the spectral plots reported in Advanced Aquarist by Sanjai Joshi for Iwasaki and Radium 250W bulbs to guide me in programming spectral peaks and lows for the Radion. I followed Riddle’s work to manage the red part of the spectrum.

The measurements below were taken at noon, when I programmed the fixture to display the highest relative intensity.

Average PAR measurements (Apogee) on the mid to upper reef (12 measurements) is 305; range: 170-455.

Note on expectations:

The tank appears dimmer than it did under MH / Compact combo, even though PAR measurements are on par.

The reds, pinks, and blues appear washed; mute, a little bland.

Glitter lines do compare to MH’s.

Software does not include natural mode; only artificial. I experienced problems with launching speed. Overall, the interface feels underdeveloped, not as user friendly as it could be.

[unclesalty]

Originally Posted by amuvor

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I purchased two Radion fixtures from Concept Aquatics. Thank you Dave and Brad.

I have hanged them from the ceiling temporarily, with rope.

My tank is 4feet long, but it’s 38” wide, and shallow: 22”. The water column, however, sand excluded, is only 18”.

Initially, I experimented hanging the Radions 6 inches away from the water surface, but I got an unlit portion in the middle of the tank, and marked shadows.

At 12” from the water (see pics) the shadows disappear and the tank appears more homogeneously lit.

I used the spectral plots reported in Advanced Aquarist by Sanjai Joshi for Iwasaki and Radium 250W bulbs to guide me in programming spectral peaks and lows for the Radion. I followed Riddle’s work to manage the red part of the spectrum.

The measurements below were taken at noon, when I programmed the fixture to display the highest relative intensity.

Average PAR measurements (Apogee) on the mid to upper reef (12 measurements) is 305; range: 170-455.

Note on expectations:

The tank appears dimmer than it did under MH / Compact combo, even though PAR measurements are on par.

The reds, pinks, and blues appear washed; mute, a little bland.

Glitter lines do compare to MH’s.

Software does not include natural mode; only artificial. I experienced problems with launching speed. Overall, the interface feels underdeveloped, not as user friendly as it could be.

I was hoping to use the natural mode too but I also noticed its not in the software. Setting up color, %, and intesity and at what time, seems like it might take a little while to set up. Still waiting for my hanging kits but I do have a tracking number for them so early next week they will be here. They seem way brighter lights than my (3 weeks old)AI Sol Blue module- by far! Jeremy at Premium Aquatics thinks the opposite at his first glance??? Once I get my hanging kits I will test them with par readings side by side in my 120gal.

[Aqua-Digital]

In regards to software, Ecotech have said from day 1 that the software will be first released with not all functionality available but will swiftly work to adding more features as swiftly as possible

Radion Software
Unlock the full potential of the Radion XR30w with the EcoSmart Configuration Utility. Connect to a Windows PC and create customized lighting periods with fully adjustable spectrum and intensity. Opt in grouping and weather features are also enabled.

Check back frequently for new software and firmware releases that will add new controllabilty and functionality to your Radion fixture.

http://ecotechmarine.com/products/radion/

Units out there - we have now personally distributed a total of 56 units into Canada so I am sure within the next month there will be plenty written about

[Parker]

Tagging along, if I keep cooking ballasts then I'll be looking to upgrade to some other form of lighting.

[cale262]

Well so far, I have both units hung from one of the ugliest contraptions I have ever made...but it works.

I had a hard time getting the software to recognize both lights, had to reset the lights to factory default a couple time to make both visible, Now they look like they are working via SW, but #2 seems to be on a different time sequence as they both work together to a point but every morning I get up #2 is on long before #1…The SW is still buggy, I’ve programmed a couple project but the SW is having issues saving or loading to programs. Tonight I think I’m going to reload the SW and see if that gets me better results.

The Lightening storm effect is kewl

[tidal_waters]

Originally Posted by cale262

Well so far, I have both units hung from one of the ugliest contraptions I have ever made...but it works.

I had a hard time getting the software to recognize both lights, had to reset the lights to factory default a couple time to make both visible, Now they look like they are working via SW, but #2 seems to be on a different time sequence as they both work together to a point but every morning I get up #2 is on long before #1…The SW is still buggy, I’ve programmed a couple project but the SW is having issues saving or loading to programs. Tonight I think I’m going to reload the SW and see if that gets me better results.

The Lightening storm effect is kewl

I had this same problem, what you need to do is when you are Programming ensure that you click on the "group" tab on the left where both of your units are listed. I was accidentally programming both lights to do two different things before I figured out what was going on.

[cale262]

Originally Posted by tidal_waters

I had this same problem, what you need to do is when you are Programming ensure that you click on the "group" tab on the left where both of your units are listed. I was accidentally programming both lights to do two different things before I figured out what was going on.

kewl, I'll make sure I check that tonight

[cale262]

Originally Posted by tidal_waters

I had this same problem, what you need to do is when you are Programming ensure that you click on the "group" tab on the left where both of your units are listed. I was accidentally programming both lights to do two different things before I figured out what was going on.

Bingo, that's exactly what I was doing...all go now, thanks


Discovered something else tonight, storm mode turns my Scopas into a real bizatch, chases everyone around and then goes back to her normal docile self when it ends.